The horrors of mankind

Rating: 10/10 (21 May 2003)

Truly gruesome and a must for anyone that likes seeing a rag-tag band of survivors fend off crazed, murderous, and highly infectious maniacs while exploring the true meaning of humanity! Danny Boyle and Alex Garland nailed this genre perfectly. While lacking somewhat the hip style of "Trainspotting" or "The Beach", it uses sound and digital camera work to create everything from haunting loneliness to sheer panic. I found this film to be haunting and thought provoking.
Although this movie appears to borrow heavily from Romero's pictures, I would say that this movie is distinctly different enough to stand on its own. Boyle's movie seems to spend most of its time exploring the philosophical issues surrounding how Man lived and how they live in the face of this epidemic. It appears what makes monsters so frightening are the traits that we see displayed almost daily from people all over the world. If anything, both "28 Days Later" and Romero's zombie movies are the direct product of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel "I Am Legend". It would have been interesting to see Boyle take on `I Am Legend' (A disease turns everyone into vampires save one man. The sole survivor spends his time hunting vampires and looking for a cure, but from the perspective of the vampires he is the monster - the movie `Omega Man' was a very poor adaptation). Regardless of 28 Days Later's origin, it will keep you disturb and entertained!